Soaring housing costs led the consumer price index to a 1.6 percent rise in August, the largest increase for that month in five years.
Housing costs, which were up by 3.2 percent for the month, accounted for nearly half the cost-of-living increases in August.
The price index rose by 11.4 percent during the first eight months of the year, reflecting an annual inflation rate of 18 percent. This year’s annual rate will almost certainly top 20 percent, because the cost of living usually rises more steeply in the final quarter of the year.
Meanwhile, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange remained closed Sunday because of uncertainty over the effects of the far-reaching economic program the Cabinet approved last Thursday.
The bourse announced Friday that it would suspend trading while the markets mull over the possible consequence of the proposed capital gains tax on profits from the sale of shares.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
